Railroad-rail joint



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J. E. MUELLER.

RAI LRoAD RAIL JOINT.

QNQ. 289,298. Patented N0v Z7Q1883.

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N. PETERS. Fhnwullwgmwr, Wamhingion. D. C.

- sum JACOB EDWARD MOELLER, OF CENTRALIA, ILLINOIS.

RAILROAD-RAIL JOINT.

SPECIFICATIONIorming part of Letters Patent No. 289,298, dated November 27,1883.

Application filed June 25, 1883. (No model.)

. To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Jlioon E. MoELLnR, a citizen of the United States, residing at Gentralia, in the county of Marion and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Railroad-Rail Joints, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of railjoints in which the chair is assisted by other parts to hold the ends of two contiguous rails in line; and it has for its object to provide means whereby such rail ends may be braced against lateral or spreading strain and against longitudinal slip.

To this end my invention consists in the construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had-to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same, and Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section at m of Fig. 1.

Arepresents rails of the common T- head form.

B is the chair, having a longitudinal groove corresponding to thebreadth of the base of the rail, and as deep as thethickness of the edges of the base at a for the rail-seat;

0 represents twofish plates, which I apply in a peculiar manner, as follows: The upper edge of the plate 0 bears on the rail in the angle 6, where the head and web of the rail join. The body of the plate stands in a plane extending from said angle to a ledge, o, of the chair, beside the base of the rail. This ledge is at right angles to said plane and extends the whole length of the chair. Above this ledge the chair rises in a lip, d, slanting inward against the outer and upper-face of the fish-plate, to hold the foot of the same in place. The upper edge of this plate is so far under the head of the rail that it cannot be raised from its place. The ledge o is of a width corresponding to about one-half the thickness of the body of plate 0, and the other half of the lower edge of the plate is shaped, when rolled in making it, to fit the upper face of the base of the rail. The two lips cl stand as near together as they can be, and allow the base of the rail to enter between them from the top, one edge of the base being entered to its place,

then the base swung down to its seat. The two fish-plates are then inserted endwise into the chair and driven to their respective places, wedging firmly between the head of the rail and the ledges c, and between the lips (land the upper faces of the base of the rail, thus forming rigid braces against the sides of the rails to keep both rail ends in perfect line with each other. To secure the rails and fish-plates from longitudinal slip relative to each other, I notch the edges of the base of the rail and the lower edges of the fish-plates to receive wrought-iron keys E, extending acrossbeneath the rail and bent up at both ends into said notches. To keep the chair from slipping endwise, I make grooves across its inner bottom to receive the bodies of keys E; and in order that the keys may be easily inserted and clinched, I shape the chair with neatly-curved notches F, registering with the notches in the rails and fish-plates. The keys E may be supplied to the tra-okmen with one end ready bent, the other to be turned up with a crowbar and clinched on the plate with a hammer. This chair and brace-plates may be used at switches, 85c. where rails end as well as where two rails come together.

What I claim as my invention, and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. ArailhavingaT-shapedhead and flanged or thin-edged base, in combinationwith a chair longitudinally grooved the width of said flanged base, and provided with ledges formed in the sides of said groove, at the height of said flanges and fish-plates, each adapted to stand upon one of said ledges, and one of said flanges bracing beneath the head of the rail, said chair having lips lying upon the outer faces of said fish-plates, as shown and described.

2. The combination, with a T- rail having notches in the edges of its base, two similarlynotched plates bracing beneath its head from the edges of its base, an da chair longitudinally grooved to receive the base of the rail, and

cross grooved and notched to register with the notches of the rail and base-plates, of a key adapted to lie in said cross-groove, and to be bent up into said notches in the rail and brace-plates, and to be clinched on said plates, as described. 7

The'combination, with two rails placed end to end in 'line,'0ffish-plates bracing beneath the heads of the rails from the edges of their bases, each of said plates passing beside and lapping the joint of the rails, and a chair adapted to receive the ends of both rails, having ledges for the fish-plates to brace upon and lips holding the lower edges of said plates upon the edges of the base of the rails, and means, substantially as, specified, for keeping 10 the plates, rails, and chair from slipping relative to each other, as described.

JACOB EDWARD MOELLER. \Vitnesses LEWIS F. CASEY, W. M. JACKSON. 

